Ned Hanenberger,62, of Laguna Woods, CA and a native of Rochester died of cancer December 13. He is the son of Dwyan and Reefa (Merry) Hanenberger. Most of his early years were spent in Yankton, SD, where he graduated from High School then attended Seattle University before preparing for a career in archaeology at the University of South Dakota.



Hanenberger's first excavation as crewmember was of national interest as it was an Indian vs Indian massacre on the site of the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, described in the Smithsonian Magazine September 1980. He then worked in Peru and Illinois before returning to South Dakota where he spent most of his career.



In 1987 he became a Project Archaeologist for the Archaeological Research Center of South Dakota located in Rapid City. A statement from the Center called his work "nothing less than exceptional as he directed the excavations of all of the most complex sites investigated during his 17+ year tenure". Two of these were the multicomponent Archaic Period Brams Site and the Jim Pitts Site, which is the most extensive and complex multicomponent Paleo-Indian site in South Dakota. Called notable as well was the significance of his shoreline surveys along the Missouri River for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and the Department of Game Fish and Parks.



Ned is survived by a daughter, Mona Schanche, who is a geologist in Oslo, Norway, her partner Haavard Ellingsen, grandson Jakob, and by his mother. Preceding him in death were his father, and a brother, Peter. The celebration of his life will take place in Yankton in July.